Stop the Barry hatred

Stop it. Just stop. I've had enough of all the Barry Bonds haters out there booing the man just for being who he is, and being one of, if not the best ever, to play the game. There's just no cause for it. How can you hate a man who puts up numbers like Bonds does? I just don't understand.

I've listened to more people rag on Barry in the past two years than I can stomach, and it just doesn't make any sense. I guess now you have to be just a mediocre player in the major leagues for fans to love you. If you're lousy, you get booed. But if you get too good you get booed too. People are too damn moody these days, and it stinks worse than a Cheerios burp (some of you know what I mean).

When I see bad baseball, I boo. When I see good baseball, I cheer. And when I see something absolutely phenomenal, like Barry Bonds, I get excited. I can't understand people who claim to be fans of baseball, but badmouth Bonds and change the channel whenever he's on TV. Why would you not want to watch him? It's like watching Willie Mays or Ted Williams or Babe Ruth play the game. Who wouldn't want to watch them take the field?

In the past two years Barry Bonds has had arguably the best two individual seasons in the history of the game. Last year he hit 73 homeruns, batted .328, walked 177 times, struck out only 93 times, and had an out of this world .863 slugging percentage. .. 863!!! And this year he was even better, batting .370 with 46 homeruns and just 47 strikeouts, while compiling a .582 on base percentage. (These numbers are absolutely ridiculous, for those of you who don't know. Completely and utterly insane. Nobody should be that good. Somebody hold me.) And people still say they don't want to watch him?!?! What the hell is going on?

I hear the complaints, and they're just as crazy as Barry's numbers. "He's too arrogant. He's not a team player." Get a freaking grip. What great player isn't arrogant? Show me anyone who was ever great at any sport and I'll show you the cockiest person you've ever met. You have to be cocky to be that good. Do you think that Michael Jordan didn't know he was the best player ever? Do you think that Wayne Gretzky thought that Gordie Howe was better? Or that Lance Armstrong thinks he's maybe the second best in the world? Give me a break.

I knew athletes in high school who were cocky and I know athletes in college who are cocky. For Christ sake I get cocky when I find Waldo twice in the same day. So what if Barry thinks he's a better baseball player than everyone else? How could he not? He's far and away better than anyone playing the game now, including A-Rod and Sosa. Forgive the man for being human.

When you're realistically put in the same category as the greatest players who ever played how can you not be confident? I don't know that anybody has ever backed up his talk like Bonds has. Of all the disgustingly arrogant baseball players (and there are A LOT) nobody can back it up even half as well as Barry can.

People say he's not a team player, that he doesn't make his team better. Are you serious? Have you seen the Giants? JT Snow? Shawon Dunston? Tom Goodwin? This is not a postseason roster. Hell this is only about a step above the Brewers. Do you really think that Jeff Kent would have hit .313 with 37 homers and 108 RBI if he wasn't hitting in front of Bonds? Barry lifts his team to an entirely different planet when he's in the lineup. Not even Mark McGuire could improve his team the way Bonds has. How can you do more for your team than make every single player on it better?

The only thing that anybody ever had on Barry Bonds was that he was a choke artist when it came to the postseason. But with four homeruns and ten RBI in the playoffs this year, that tag is long gone. He's proven that he can play when it matters most, and opposing pitchers still don't know what to do with the slugger, even in October.

Of course everyone will say that he's only done what he's done because of a watered down league and steroid use, but as the Herald's Michael Gee said, "Bonds' overweening self love wouldn't let him mess with his body." So maybe his arrogance has paid off after all.

His records and his numbers give him a case as the greatest player ever. He isn't quite there yet, but I wouldn't count him out. The only thing left for him to put on his resume, a World Series ring, is within his grasp and I'll be damned if I'm not going to watch him go after it, especially for some stupid reason like he's too cocky. Last time I checked, nobody ever got into Cooperstown just by being nice.